


katzenjammer

by JehanFerres



Series: some are like water, some are like the heat [1]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Empath!Cyrus, Empathy, Gen, Psychometric Ability
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-13
Updated: 2014-06-20
Packaged: 2018-02-04 13:14:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1780381
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JehanFerres/pseuds/JehanFerres
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>katzenjammer; n - “loud confused noise from many sources”</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This is part of my upcoming Supervillain!AU - Cyrus is an extremely high-level Empath and also somewhat psychometric (meaning that he can touch an object and see its past and future), while Saturn has the abilities of Science Manipulation, and he is also psychometric. He’s hypothetically capable of becoming a physical God with proper power augmentation, but for the time being he’s limited.

Cyrus had not slept for seventy-two hours since he had arrived at Team Galactic’s new Base. Why they couldn’t have stayed in Eterna City, which, while large and bustling, wasn’t large to the same extent as Veilstone, was a mystery to him. But they had, and Cyrus was very much feeling the repercussions.

The thoughts of the people surrounding him, both Team Galactic and ordinary civilians, had gone from the soft susurrus that they had been in Sunyshore and Eterna to a full-blown blaring cacophony, bombarding him from all sides to the extent that one person’s emotions was indistinguishable from the next.

The only salvation was that three of his four Commanders - Saturn, Jupiter and Charon - didn’t seem to broadcast their emotions quite as loudly and blatantly as the Grunts, civilians and his fourth Commander. No less, he tended to keep them at arm’s length, not only to try to keep himself as sane as possible but to save them from exposure to him when he was in a bad state.

No - he had to appear strong, not to be weak. Even though they were both careful, Cyrus was aware that both Saturn and Charon had their eyes on his position, and not just through his ability to read their emotions.

A knock on the door that somehow broke through the uproar filling his head alerted him to a visitor, and he attempted to straighten himself up and make himself look a little less tired. “Enter.”

Saturn’s came through the door a moment later, and even though he was trying to hide it, Saturn could sense that he was tired, although that quickly gave way to concern when he saw Cyrus.

"Sir-"

"Stop worrying. I could have heard you from a mile off."

That was not necessarily entirely true - while Saturn’s worry would certainly have been in the current racket, Cyrus would certainly not have been able to separate it from the rest of the thoughts and feelings of Veilstone City. However, it made for a good excuse to get Saturn to shut up.

"My apologies, sir." Obviously, this was completely insincere, in as much as Saturn was capable of insincerity. "Regardless - I thought you would want to be informed: Jupiter believes herself to be considerably closer to finding the hiding-places of the Legendary Pokémon of the Lakes."

"Was that all?" Cyrus asked, trying not ot betray his frustration.

Saturn nodded. “Yes, sir.”

"In which case," Cyrus said, throwing the golden cube currently sat on his desk over to Saturn, "kindly explain?"

"What about it in particular."

"Its past, and its purpose, if possible," he replied.

Saturn frowned down at it, resting the palms of his hands flat against the sides of the object. Cyrus watched as the boy’s face was overtaken by a bizzare serious intensity, and as his thoughts and emotions all but disappeared to a soft hiss just below the surface.

"I see," Saturn said, raising his head. His eyes bored into Cyrus’. "Before I explain, how much do you already know?"

"I am aware that it is gold, and somehow able to be used as a map or some sort of object capable of leading somebody to a destination. Otherwise, however, nothing," Cyrus replied.

Saturn held out his right hand, absently allowing the cube to float three inches above his hand. It spun slowly, Saturn examining it and eventually taking his hand away. “It is, indeed, pure 24-carat gold - at present it is in a cube form, but in an activated form…” He frowned, catching the cube in mid air and staring intently at it again. “‘N an activated form it… appears to be a map of some form.” He frowned. “Meteorites. There’s something significant there to do with it.”

"And is it connected to the Legendary Pokémon?" Cyrus asked.

"…Yes," Saturn replied, after a moment’s hesitation. Cyrus searched his mind to see if he was lying, and found that the reason for the hesitation was merely the mental strain sustained use of his psychometric powers put him under.

"And is that all you can tell me?" Cyrus asked. When Saturn nodded, he motioned for the cube back - Saturn returned it by hand, an indication of just how exhausted he was. "In that case," Cyrus said, his tone deliberately measured, "you may go."

Saturn nodded, and turned to leave, Cyrus looking down at the cube, vaguely interested.

Saturn hadn’t been able to explain the link between it and the Legendary Pokémon, either of the Lakes or of the Sinnoh Region in general. However, he had been able to ascertain that there was some link somewhere between the Cube and the Meteorites, which were practically on the doorstep of Team Galactic’s Building. It was fairly obvious that this mission was going to be fairly simple. He could probably send Saturn, alone, or maybe with a couple of Grunts for protection, once he had recovered from his earlier power overuse.

For now, he could tell that Saturn very much needed to rest and recover. His exhaustion was readable not just to the Empath, and Cyrus knew that sending him out on a mission would not just be stupid but dangerous. Anything could happen to Saturn out in Veilstone, as he was not exactly the strongest, although his Pokémon were. However, he would, no doubt, be easy for a passing Trainer to overpower in his weakened state.

Feeling the hubbub that was Veilstone City, Cyrus could tell that yes, today would almost certainly be a good day to attempt to figure out the connection between the bizarre cube of gold and the Veilstone meteorites. Cyrus had previously assumed the meteorites to only have aesthetic value, and no purpose to his quest, but it seemed that he had been wrong.

There was another knock on the door, Cyrus trying to identify the person who had knocked. When he felt nothing of their thoughts, he realised that it was Charon. “Come in.”

“The Spear Key,” Charon said, as he opened the door.

“Beg pardon?” Cyrus said, frowning.

“The cube. It is called the Spear Key.” Charon grinned.

“Explain.” Cyrus lacked the patience for much more of Charon’s presence.

“It unlocks the Spear Pillar.”

That, Cyrus could understand. The Spear Pillar was a supposedly legendary area of Mount Coronet, intrinsically linked to the ancient Legendary Pokémon of the Sinnoh Region. Of course, there was no way that this could be explained without Saturn’s presence, as he could hypothetically, if properly augmented, show Cyrus exactly how to get to the Spear Pillar.

“Of course, Cyrus, this isn’t something that would be particularly easy for Saturn to find - I have talked to him,” Charon explained. Cyrus almost chuckled, thinking that that explained the frustration he had felt on Saturn’s mind a couple of days ago. “Powerful as Saturn is, this would simply require wandering around touching things,” Charon cackled.

“That is essentially the plan for finding the Spear Pillar, either way,” Cyrus replied, staring levelly at Charon, who rolled his eyes.

“No originality,” he chuckled. “Regardless - I will be accompanying Saturn, correct?” he asked.

“That is correct,” Cyrus replied, mentally preparing himself to be aware of Saturn’s frustration with Charon from where he was.

“Excellent - the boy could do to loosen up a bit,” Charon laughed. “Who else will be accompanying?” he asked.

“Various Grunts. Saturn is picking them. You and Saturn will be in charge, although you will obviously be answering to him,” Cyrus replied, frowning at Charon as he tried to identify how the older man felt about this. When this returned nothing, he frowned. “If that’s all, I recommend that you go and pack for the expedition. You will be leaving tomorrow.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is set just after Aggravation, so I would suggest reading that first.
> 
> But yeah, Saturn / Cyrus and Mars / Jupiter are definitely my jam (Saturn / Cyrus I literally only started shipping this week) - although Polyamorous Datemates Mars, Saturn and Jupiter is quite cute too.

“That cannot be comfortable,” Mars chuckled as she pushed open the door to Saturn’s office.

Saturn was sat on his chair, one knee drawn up against his chest as he stared intently down at his laptop. He didn’t look up at Mars, but Nosferatu, out of her Poké Ball and stood on a perch, her wings stretched out, gave a friendly screech. Mars reached over to scratch the top of the bat-like Pokémon’s head. She closed her eyes and leaned into it.

“Saturn?” Mars said, stringing herself over his shoulders. Saturn looked back at her, one eyebrow raised quizzically as he looked up at his friend. “What’s up?” she asked, smiling and looking over his shoulder. He appeared to be watching one of those ridiculous train-wreck shows, which mostly contained uneducated people shouting at each-other. Looking down at the corner of the screen, however, Mars could see that sound was muted. Frowning, she kissed his hair. “Still in love with the Boss, huh?”

“Still in love with my best friend?” Saturn asked, although he was obviously saying it in good humour.

“ We have a date,” Mars replied, smirking. “Your chances of a date with Cyrus are…” She chuckled at the thought of Saturn and Cyrus, of all people, going on a date. “So, why are you watching that without the sound on?” she asked, frowning down at the laptop.

“It’s more amusing to make up my own storyline,” Saturn replied. “Also, I have to be somewhere soon. Master Cyrus is sending me and Charon on a mission to the Meteorites today. I would much rather not.” He flopped backwards, blue eyes boring into Mars’. “He’s so  annoying ,” he grumbled, the picture on the screen of his laptop flickering slightly as his lack of hold on his emotions started to affect the electricity, causing the screen of the laptop to overload, flashing in fractions of seconds from bright to dim. Saturn angrily flicked a hand at it to switch it off. “Fuck this.”

“Why’d he send you, then?”

“Fuck knows,” Saturn muttered, irritated. “I know I can tell him what the thing is, but somebody else could easily take the thing there.”

“The thing?” Mars asked.

“You know that cube on Master Cyrus’ desk?” Saturn asked. Mars nodded. “That is the Spear Key, in its un-activated form. Activated, it can become a map of sorts, and it can be used to lead us to the Spear Pillar.”

“Isn’t that the same thing…?” Mars asked.

“Not necessarily,” Saturn replied. “It… it acts as a map of the Sinnoh region, but I believe it can also somehow lead a person to the Spear Pillar. I’m not clear on how, but it can do it,” he explained.

“And… it activates through the… through the meteors…?” Mars said, frowning. Saturn nodded. She moved over and sat down on the desk, putting her feet over Saturn’s legs. “So… How does that work?”

“I’m honestly not sure. That’s all I’ve got.” Saturn sighed, crossing one foot over the other and looking away from Mars. He stared down at his laptop, even though he had switched it off.

She could tell, even without Cyrus’ abilities, that he was in a bad mood, so she gently brushed a hand over his cheek, hoping to alleviate some of his anger. He smiled weakly up at her with a sigh, leaning into the hand on his face, as it was pretty obvious what she was trying to do.

“Thank you,” he muttered as she pulled her hand away, brushing her fingertips lightly over his hair.

“It’d be easier without the makeup,” she teased, albeit gently.

“I only wear that to cover my freckles and you know it,” Saturn replied as she reached forward to take hold of his hands. “Well, that and eye make-up, I suppose,” he added.

“You certainly wear eyeliner.”

“And you don’t?”

“Touché!” Mars replied with a grin, squeezing his hands. Saturn sighed and squeezed back, glad not to be feeling quite as angry as he had been earlier. “So, what’s wrong? Other than Charon, that is.”

“Bad back,” Saturn replied. “Probably my own doing, given that I’ve been sitting around doing fuck all all day and night,” he chuckled. “Doing nothing and eating sweets, that is, I suppose.” He sighed quietly, running a hand through his hair. It was down, currently, not teased up into its usual ridiculous spikes. It straggled down around his shoulders.

“You’re gonna need to redo your roots soon, love,” Mars pointed out.

“I know, I know,” Saturn sighed, running a hand through his hair with a slightly irritated expression. “I hate having it this long, though,” he admitted. “I always feel so dysphoric when I have it down like this, but I hate having it up,” he sighed. “It pisses me the fuck off.”

“I know how you feel.” Mars still had hers up, although she looked rather scruffier than usual, and it was obvious that she hadn’t slept for a while. “It’s a bit frustrating, right? Do you get headaches too?”

“So much,” Saturn sighed, raising his eyebrows a little.

Mars gently moved his head forward, Saturn’s hair falling over his shoulders as she started to gently tease out the knots. He had washed it and it was half-dry, and quite tangled - but Mars cheerily started un-tangling the knots in her friend’s hair. Saturn sighed, quietly putting up with it. He knew that Mars liked playing with his hair because she very rarely let hers down.

“So, how long do you reckon you’re gonna be?” Mars asked, holding a lock of Saturn’s hair a bit closer to his head as she tried to untangle it. Saturn winced slightly, reaching over for a spray bottle on the desk beside him.

“I shouldn’t be more than about an hour.”

Mars gently sprayed the bottle on the knot in his hair, seeing that it was detangling spray, and started to work through it with her fingers. “I don’t know why you don’t brush your hair more,” she sighed.

“It’s mostly dead anyway,” Saturn replied, gently pushing her hands away once the last of the knots had been untangled. He looked up at her. “The amount of dye in it, I’m surprised it’s still surviving.” He offered a small smile.

**Author's Note:**

> I am looking foward so much to writing Saturn and Charon's relationship. To make it abundantly clear that they HATE each-other, Charon's ability is Pseudoscience Manipulation.


End file.
